Astrology has had a profound influence over the past few thousand years
on Western and Eastern cultures. In the Middle Ages, when the educated of the time believed in astrology, the
system of heavenly
spheres and bodies was believed to reflect on the system of knowledge and the world itself
below.
Astrology has had an influence on both language and
literature.
For example, influenza, from medieval Latin influentia meaning influence, was so named
because doctors once believed epidemics to be caused by unfavorable planetary and stellar influences. The word "disaster"
comes from the Latin dis-aster meaning "bad star".
Adjectives lunatic (Luna/Moon),
mercurial (Mercury), venereal (Venus), martial (Mars), jovial (Jupiter/Jove), and saturnine
(Saturn) are all old words used to describe personal qualities said to resemble or be highly influenced by the astrological
characteristics of the planet, some of which are derived from the attributes of the ancient Roman gods they are named after.
In literature, many writers, notably Geoffrey Chaucer and William
Shakespeare, used astrological symbolism to add subtlety and nuance to the description of their characters' motivation(s).
Often, an understanding of astrological symbolism is needed to fully appreciate such literature.
Some modern
thinkers, notably Carl Jung, believe in astrology's descriptive powers regarding
the mind without necessarily subscribing to its traditional predictive claims. In education astrology is reflected in the
university education of medieval Europe, which was divided into seven distinct areas, each represented by a particular planet
and known as the seven liberal arts. Dante Alighieri speculated that these arts, which grew into the sciences we know today,
fitted the same structure as the planets.
In music the best known example of astrology's influence is in the orchestral
suite called "The Planets" by the British composer Gustav Holst, the framework of which is based upon the astrological symbolism
of the planets.
The origins of much of the astrological doctrine and method that would later develop in Asia, Europe,
and the Middle East are found among the ancient Babylonians and their system of celestial omens that began to be compiled
around the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE. This system of celestial omens later
spread either directly or indirectly through the Babylonians and Assyrians to other areas such as India,
China, and Greece where it merged with pre-existing indigenous forms of astrology.
This Babylonian astrology came to
Greece initially as early as the middle of the 4th century BCE, and then around the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE after
the Alexandrian conquests, this Babylonian astrology was mixed with the Egyptian
tradition of decanic astrology to create horoscopic astrology. This new form of
astrology, which appears to have originated in Alexandrian Egypt, quickly spread across the ancient world into Europe, the
Middle East and India.
From the classical period through the scientific revolution, astrological training played a critical
role in advancing astronomical, mathematical, medical and psychological knowledge. Astrological influences included the observation
and long-term tracking of celestial objects. It was astrologers who provided the first systematic documentation of the movements
of the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars.
The differentiation between astronomy and
astrology varied from place to place; they were indistinguishable in ancient Babylonia
and for most of the Middle Ages, but separated to a greater degree in ancient Greece. Astrology was not always uncritically
accepted before the modern era; it was often challenged by Hellenistic skeptics, church authorities, and medieval Muslim
astronomers.
Many prominent thinkers, philosophers and scientists, such as
Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Paracelsus, Girolamo Cardan, Nicholas Copernicus,
Galileo Galilei, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler,
Carl Jung and others, practiced or significantly contributed
to astrology.
